Bounty Oil & Gas has agreed to acquire PetroQuest Liberia Deep Water, giving it a pathway to an interest in deepwater Block LB-32 offshore Liberia, while raising about $2.5 million (A$3.55 million) to advance the acquisition and exploration work.
PetroQuest does not currently hold a granted license or executed production sharing contract for LB-32. It holds a letter of engagement with Liberia's National Oil Company, NOCAL, giving it the exclusive right to negotiate a PSC for the block, with PetroQuest acting as the pre-qualified applicant before the Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
The 2,322-square-kilometre block lies in the Harper Basin in water depths of about 1,500 to 4,200 meters and borders LB-30 and LB-31 to the west.
LB-32 is covered by about 656 square kilometers of 3D seismic and 753 line-km of 2D seismic. The 3D coverage forms the eastern portion of TGS's approximately 6,167-square-kilometre Sunfish survey, and Bounty intends to license the LB-32 data as the first step towards due diligence, prospective resource assessment and potential farm-out preparations.
The principal exploration target is the Upper Cretaceous basin-floor fan play, including portions of the Jupiter and Zeus fan systems. Bounty said the Jupiter Turonian fan is interpreted in published third-party material to extend into LB-32, while the Cenomanian Zeus fan lies near the LB-31/LB-32 boundary.
The company has not yet directly reviewed the 3D seismic and will not report prospective resources for LB-32 until it has acquired the data and commissioned an independent evaluation by a qualified petroleum reserves and resources evaluator.
“The proposed acquisition of PetroQuest Liberia Deep Water LLC represents a significant opportunity for Bounty to secure exposure to a deepwater exploration block in the Harper Basin, offshore Liberia, while maintaining a disciplined structure that links material vendor upside to independent technical validation and farm-out delivery,” Bounty's board said.
Negotiation of the PSC will involve PetroQuest, NOCAL and the Liberian regulator and is subject to parliamentary approval. PetroQuest expects PSC negotiations and parliamentary approval to be concluded by January 2027 or shortly thereafter.
The acquisition itself remains subject to conditions including due diligence, the execution of the PSC or confirmation of a satisfactory pathway to its grant, shareholder and regulatory approvals and a capital raising of at least A$3 million.
Bounty has received commitments to raise about $2.5 million (A$3.55 million) through the issue of 295.625 million shares at A$0.012 each. The proceeds will help fund the acquisition, work on LB-32 including the PSC process and reprocessing of the Sunfish 3D seismic data, existing projects and working capital.